This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
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Saturday, July 12, 2014

July 9, 2014By Brian GraversCleveland Daily Banner...Gov. Bill Haslam paid an early morning visit to Bradley County Tuesday as he works toward winning a second term as Tennessee’s top official.

“As governor, (click here) you deal with everything from prisons to building roads to educating 4-year-olds to educating PhD students to mental health issues,” Haslam said. “There’s a lot of different things you deal with and I personally love that aspect of the job.”...It seems as though when Haslam talks about mental health it only matters when attempting to pin the problem of gun violence in other places than the number of guns in the country. To those that finally realizes that, "I told you so." I told you so a long time ago. It is the number of guns in the country and welcome to the slippery slope.Recently the Governor arrested a new mother and jailed her because of information the state received from her medical records. The baby and she are now separated.This action has very broad constitutional implications. It opens Pandora's Box and is a very slippery slope.Medical records are suppose to be confidential and inaccessible to anyone without permission of the person who is the subject of those records. There have been extensive expansion of electronic records in the country and even GOP members are racking in profits from companies conducting such services. Combine that with this law and the entire national electronic record and otherwise becomes accessible no different than Metadata.The answer to mental health problems is not exposure to the prison system. That is adverse to any mental health problem. Those with mental health problems have adverse outcomes in the prison system in the USA. As the USA reassesses it's prison system it is seeking to make far less victims of those that run into legal trouble in their lives. This law by Haslam reverses that tend.Women need their children and children need their parents. While these circumstances warranted placing the baby in foster care (which has it's own problems) it should not have required the mother to be jailed. It is a punishment too far. There are many options for those found in possess of substances and under the influence. It is those options that fall under the classification of mental health of which comes to bear in these circumstances. Governor Haslam has obviously been practicing hubris and not governance. He has, as of now, caused all Americans more alarm over their privacy. He should not be re-elected as he could not handle the responsibility of governance the first time.

Remembering dead Ukrainian children July 12, 2014...Organizers (click here) said the choice of venue was symbolic: the Fontaine des Innocents - the oldest Renaissance monument that used to stand just outside the walls of the largest cemetery in Paris, the Cimeti·re des Saint-Innocents, which was believed to be a cemetery for the 'innocent souls' of children. Participants had flags of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics, Russia, Ukrainian and French flags, and the rainbow flag of the peace movement.

"Regrettably, the mass media are silent about the tragedy in Odessa, about the death of children in Slavyansk and other eastern Ukrainian cities. These facts are unknown," said Georgy Shepelev, one of the organizers of the action. "We want to draw public attention to this problem."

"Money and humanitarian aid raising campaigns were organized during the action. "Each new day take more and more lives," activists said, TASS reports.

"We must do our best to have truce be finally reached in Ukraine’s eastern regions."...

It is said Russia has established control at three border crossings with Ukraine. It is time for Russia to become serious about the purpose of those crossings and begin meaningful trade relations with Ukraine. Otherwise, those crossings are nothing more than attempts to leverage power. I doubt President Putin is interested in playing games with the economic future of either country.

I think the the EU is focusing on those that are seeking separatism in the face of a Ukraine Constitution. I believe these sanctions may be the most meaningful yet.

The European Union has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the Ukrainian separatist leader Alexander Borodai and 10 other rebels as residents of Donetsk flee amid fears of further attacks on the rebel stronghold.

The news came as Ukraine scrambled jet fighters to strike at rebel positions early on Saturday after separatists resumed missile attacks on government forces near the frontier with Russia.

The EU said Borodai was "responsible for the separatist 'governmental' activities of the so-called 'government of the Donetsk People's Republic'".

The 41-year-old Russian citizen claimed in May that he was a political adviser who helped in Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea in March and then moved to eastern Ukraine to help separatists there. He denied any links to Moscow....

One might recall Russia did call for the end of elections in eastern Ukraine. It was people like Mr. Borodai that found greater meaning in ignoring both the Ukraine government and that of Russia. That is a separatist movement that is a danger to both countries.

Do we want one that works or one that allows political hubris to rule above function?The 9-0 decision regarding recess appointments was moronic. It simply played into some ancient idea of Congressional Recess for the benefit of "Stare decisis."For most of President Obama's terms in office, the RNC has been hanging on to remnants of power to insure their ability to be elected.The filibuster. Recesses. They were used in most egregious methods which hobbled our democracy and made the Executive Branch stunted.It was no small task the USA recovered from the 2008 global economic collapse. Much of what succeeded was due to the 111th Congress and the administrative decisions within the Obama Administration. I hate to think what kind of condition the USA would be experiencing if the collapse came with a 112th or 113th Congress. Obstruction was used to play footsie for the financial sector and if it wasn't for President Obama pushing the envelope we would still be in limbo. I congratulate him for making the tough decisions. Those decisions were made in full recognition of REALITY. The decisions by the 9-0 Court were made while disregarding the country and only blindly looking at the ideological USA. I think most everyone lost sight of purpose a recess appoint serves. It is to continue to keep the government functioning when Congress is unable. Congress was completely unable to carry out simple tasks of appointments to the Executive Branch. The vacancies existed far longer than was at all reasonable. There was every reason for the Executive Branch to appoint people to administrative positions when Congress lost it's purpose due to severe partisanship. Just because a political party is desperate doesn't mean the government doesn't function within the Executive Branch. It was ridiculous and then again the American people are poorly served by the Supreme Court.We live in a world that moves quicker than the speed of light sometimes and our government has to be able to function.When a court backs dysfunction in the USA it should be everyone's worry.

July 11, 2014By the NYTimes Editorial Board...This is not a question of religious freedom. (click here) It is a question of whether to allow religion to be used as an excuse to discriminate in employment against a particular group of people. Many states already have laws protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender workers. There is no such federal law, so the presidential order (promised but not yet produced) would extend those rules to companies that receive federal contracts in states without those kinds of anti-bias laws, protecting millions more people....There is a small minority of Christians that believe gender identity is a choice. Unfortunately, they are wealthy and have found a way to make power serve their purpose. There are signs of this highly destructive religion on many places around the world. They have found a way to pay for the power they enjoy without having a member as a representative in any government. Sexual identity is not a choice. Sexual preference can be, but, then no different than any bedroom antics of any home anywhere. The idea that a religion can misconstrue the Bible's recordings to facilitate their own form of hatred is one matter. But, to have that hatred transcend societies globally through power brokering and political manipulation of economies is quiet something different. Evangelical christians have become very dangerous people. They were tolerated for a sincerely long time in the USA without any concern, but, when power brokers realized the USA Constitution and democracy could be lent to bending in an arch of power to make the Evangelicals 'call to duty' real, the rest is history.The current headwinds of justice in the USA is very strong. There are members of the Supreme Court full of their own hubris and 'ideas' about their roles and the place of the US Constitution in today's society. The recent decisions by the court are troubling. They should NOT lend themselves to a greater power or understanding than what was obvious in the responses by the court. This is not at all a great court with decisions of astounding intellect. Not even close.For any American to expect another to be judge and jury on a person's soul is more than arrogant. I can't speak for the good Pope, but, he also has indicated he cannot make those decisions. The relationship between god and person is uniquely individual. It is not channeled through a emperor or queen.Employment is necessary in the USA. It is a capitalist based society. To actually have anyone in this country believe they should have the power over a man or woman's work choice or career choice and actually load the dice against them even when the most prepared candidate is LGBT is unthinkable. Such discrimination is hate based, it seeks to ride a religious hubris unlike the Christians that are humble and do not seek to judge others.I don't know when this monster of a religion will be departing this Earth, I hope it is soon. They are always asking and expecting Armageddon. For everyone's sake I hope their Armageddon comes swiftly and justly and leaves the rest of us alone. But, until that happens, we, as a society, have to make clear choices about our society and it's content. We cannot afford to be mistaken for a hate monger and should dispell their presence in which ever form or voice it takes.President Obama has been paid a great deal of disrespect by the US House Speaker within the last few days. President Obama never earned any of it and all to frequently measured his response to what might be racism or bigotry. To say he is a good sport is putting it mildly.President Obama needs to one more time shake off the disrespect exhibited and go forward for the benevolence of the country he leads. He is a great President, unfortunately, his time in office has come at a really lousy time for the two party system. I trust him today, no different than the first day of office and expect him to lead no differently.